SLR Consulting recently completed the technical authoring of a Decom North Sea and Zero Waste Scotland funded report on ‘The Management of Decommissioned Material in a Circular Economy’.
Launched at the Decom Delivery, Re-use Results conference in Aberdeen in early January, the document provides an overview of re-use potential in the oil and gas decommissioning sector. It is intended to further promote the re-use of material during the decommissioning of North Sea assets.
SLR’s Technical Director Duncan Thomas who led SLR’s contribution to the report, said: “Operators in the North Sea have already demonstrated a pro-active approach with resource management. Looking ahead, nearly £17bn is forecast to be spent on decommissioning projects over the next 10 years and this document provides a roadmap to identify and deliver further efficiencies associated with the management of material recovered from decommissioning projects.”
The report follows research from Zero Waste Scotland which highlighted that increasing the rates of re-use and recycling of equipment and structures could potentially add an additional one third to the total value which can be recovered at the decommissioning stage.
As the infographic shows, the report demonstrates how circular economy principles can be applied to the life-cycle of an exploration and production asset, even if the asset was designed and commissioned at a time when limited thought was given to the decommissioning process.
“Collaboration and the sharing of direct project experience associated with the re-use of materials will be a critical component required to ensure delivery of value to operators, non-operator field partners, the supply chain and the UK economy,” added Duncan.
